Month: January 2024

This is the time of the year I pare down my NBA viewing to about three or four games a week as we see the trade deadline on the horizon. This week I read quite a bit and just finished Liz Cheney’s book on January 6th, while at the same time I binge watched True Detective Seasons I & 2. Plus, of course, I’ve attended every OU home game this season. So, yeah, it’s been a busy week for me.

But last night I did take the time to watch this Denver vs. Boston game as if it were in fact a preview of the NBA Finals. And the game led up to its hype.

This was a great game in which Denver made the winning plays down the last four minutes on the road and nudged the Celtics by two points in a regular season thriller.

These are the two teams I circled back just before the season began, and I’m still there at the midway point of the 82 game NBA reagualr season marathon.

Denver to me has the best starting five, the best coach, and the best one-two combo in the league in Jokic and Jamal. Nothing has changed since October which has changed my mind a bit on any of those thoughts.

The Nuggets are tied with the OKC Thunder for second place in the suddenly rugged Northwest Divsion with both teams behind the Minnesota Timberwolves by two games.

For me as a hoops fan this is awesome. OU plays in the Big 12 which is the best hoops league in the country and the Thunder and Nuggets play in what has evolved into the best division in the NBA. This is awesome…my NBA cup runneth over.

But I don’t waste my time watching shitty matchups this far into the NBA season. When the Thunder play a bad team…I quite frankly don’t even watch those games as they to me hold no value whatsoever in judging the young Thunder moving forward.

Coach Michael Malone is the perfect coach for the defending champ Nuggets from my perspective. He’s hungry. He’s still coaching with an edge and something to prove…while quite honestly– it appears both Steve Kerr and Pop should have retired this summer and recharged on a beach somewhere.

As I view the Nuggets…what I’m looking for is their bench. Can Reggie Jackson, Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, and perhaps even Deandre Jordan give Michael Malone and his starters a bench like the one they had last season with Bruce Brown.

Biggest NFL week-end of the season is about to begin with the Divisional Round. 28.3 million viewers watched Baker Mayfield and the Bucs eliminate the Eagles on Monday Night Football. My Packers play later today after we get the Ravens and the Texans in Game 1.

I think maybe I’ll grill a small steak, have some veggies, and down this very healthy meal with a Taiwanese beer my son has me drinking in moderation. Nothing like a Taiwanese beer or a Lone Star in a bottle when you’re watching NFL Divisional Round football.

Enjoy the games.

Life is good.

MJ

The Thunder have lost two straight in LA on a back to back, but that’s no crime considering this team was tanking like a dog the previous three seasons.

I think the Thunder are now 27-13 just below the halfway mark of the season and I have them at No. 4 in my Western Conference Poll and No. 8 in my overall NBA Power Poll.

They’ve got three dudes, man. And each one of these three dudes in their own right could be the best player on a contending NBA team moving down the road. Hopefully…since the Thunder ownership duped the voters in Oklahoma to basically almost 100% OPM (Other People’s Money) fund the new arena…I would hope the Thunder with their 3.2 billion dollar equity net worth don’t go cheap like they did with James Harden as the third star back in 2013.

C’mon, Sam Presti…’Scared money don’t make money.’ Your words, not mine.

‘Scared money don’t make money.’ That would be a great song title for the Steve Miller Band.

Or maybe the Thunder ownership will have swarmy OKC mayor David Holt claim J-Dub’s new contract should be a part of MAPS Nine Special Assessment. Why not?

Anyway…..it don’t matter if half the kids in OKC can’t read…you guys gotta keep J Dub because HE IS A DUDE and maybe the best player on the Thunder roster….and that’s saying something.

I’m heading out here in a bit to Norman to hopefully see the Sooners beat West Virginia and get back on track after two tough road losses in the brutal Big 12 basketball conference which in fact might be a tougher basketball conference than the SEC is in football.

I’ve got the ESPN fake pullover laundered and look forward to winking at Joe C as I come out of the tunnel and take my mid-court floor seat.

Life is good.

Boomer!

MJ

Living in Oklahoma…it in no way surprised me that Donald Trump rolled to a record win of plurality in the Iowa Caucus. Nope. No surprise at all given what the GOP has turned into these past eight years.

It is genuinely sad that a major political party could still be endorsing a person like Donoald Trump to be the standard bearer of Amercian leadership…but it is what it is.

It sickens me. It depresses me…and as a person with a history degree who could actually be teaching history in these golden years of my life if I so chose…it vexes me beyond any level of pragmatic thinking on any realm.

How any real American could make the defense for Donoald Trump holding any office, let alone the presidency is beyond me.

And for the self purported Trump Christians in the Trump caravan it shows you people put little if any at all relevance in anything written in the New Testament…..AS IN NOTHING.

But I’m in a different place now in my own litle cancer journey…I’m not in any way going to allow you people to bring me down. Instead, I’m going to pray for you and our country. I’m going to pray that enough people have the courage to do the right thing and make sure Donald Trump doesn’t serve a second term.

I’m speechless we as a country are still debating Donald Trump this long after the January 6th tragedy.

We apparently have learned nothing as a collective whole..

MJ

It’s been a great NFL Wild Card opening round for me so far. All of my teams have won… and won easily with the exception of the Detroit Lions’ 24-23 narrow win over the LA Rams in what has been to date the only competitive game so far this MLK week-end.

Since childhood…the Green Bay Packers have been my team despite my proximity to the Dallas Cowboys and their foolish fanbase. I read all three of Jerry Kramer’s bestselling books on Lombardi and the Packers as a kid and still to this day those three books are ingrained in me as part of my sports and life upbringing.

Instant Replay, Winning is the Only Thing, and Farewell to Football all written by offensive left guard Jerry Kramer to this day remind of the lessons one can take from sport and apply to everyday life.

The Packers are different than any other franchise in American professional sport as far as I’m concerned. There is literally ownership of the team by the fans in Green Bay. Going to an early season game next fall at Lambeau Field is high on my chart of must do’s or the Bucket List if you will. I’d love to see them play the Detroit Lions there if possible given how these two young teams seem headed towards the top of the NFC simultaneously.

Jordan Love and his buddy RB Aaron Jones just basically eviserated the once again over-hyped Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon at Jerry’s World. The score was 48-16 when the Packers pulled back and showed some mercy on the most over-hyped team in all of our four major league sports leagues in America.

This one looked eerily similar to the Longhorns’ recent rout of the O State Aggies in the Big 12 Dr. Pepper Championship Game. As in…neither set of Cowboys actually got a stop in either game when the Longhorns and Packers were still trying to score.

On to San Francisco for QB Jordan Love and his mates as they become the first 7th seed ever to make the Divisional Round. Keep this in mind…these red-hot Packers since Thanksgiving have now defeated both the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowyboys on the road during the second half of this season.

Green Bay is finally healthy with RB Aaron Jones and WR Christian Watson finally healthy at the same time….this is team hitting its stride at just the right time.

To me…as a Packer fan…I’m thinking let’s game plan all about Brock Purdy throwing under duress every time he goes back in the pocket and see if he’s equal to the task. I would be coming at this guy with every imaginable blitz package in the defensive playbook. Make Brock Purdy prove he belongs on this stage under these bright lights.

As far as the Packers…they obviously have found their QB moving beyond the Aaron Rodgers era in Green Bay. This worked out perfectly for the Packers in this transition year. You know…the Packers have absolutely nothing to lose in San Francisco. As in nothing. Let it rip and see if you can catch some lightening in a bottle and beat the No. 1 seed is the way I see it.

MJ

Winning is a big deal…make no mistake about this salient fact. But it’s how you go beyond winning off the field which in essense defines you as a human.

My life idol Vince Lomardi would agree.

It’s how we treat one another. It’s looking for the best in others. It’s beyond going up on a stage like some some half-wit dumbshit at a Donald Trump rally, but instead looking for ways to unite the human cords which exist in all of us.

We’re all basically the same.

We just want dignity.

For however long I live I hope I see Coach Saban’s Foundation providing dignity to those truly in need.

With the dipshit Trump movement in parts of this country seemingly not going away regardless of whatever Donald Trump does to divide this country…all of us need to look for ways to bring out the best in one another.

Enough of the nonsense.

America….grow up and be great again.

Start showing the world why America is still the best bet going for democracy and freedom.

Do kind things.

Have a nice NFL Wildcard Weekend.

MJ

This doesn’t shock me at all. He’s 72 and what’s left to prove especially in the NIL… transfer portal Wild West era of college football.

Enough is enough.

Nothing to left prove and plenty of good deeds which can be accomplished on the horizon.

This OU fan loves Coach Saban and hopes he takes the time to enjoy every second of hs retirement and life beyond.

He literally has nothing left to prove.

And this happened on the same day as iconic coach Pete Carroll was ‘reassigned’ or whatever in Seattle.

We all think we know people, but sometimes we really don’t.

One of the many things I have learned on my cancer journey is that people are genuinely good and love is all around us every day if we just take the time to observe it.

Coach Saban and Miss Terry…take the time to soak in every sunset.

Best wishes.

MJ

Big basketball night for me as No. 9 Oklahoma hits the Big 12 road to take on TCU in Fort Worth. This is a conference road game I think the Sooners could perhaps steal if they play the right way and hit the open looks.

I was in Norman last Saturady for both the women and the mens’ games in the span of six hours. It has taken me three days to recoup, but it was worth it. I sat on the floor for the womens’ game as they beat Cincy in a close game. Very nice crowd considering the students were still on break.

Then I had to leave the building and return after having an early dinner at the best Mexiacn restaurant in the state of Oklahoma as far as I’m concerned. That restaurant being…Tarahumara’s Mexican Cafe on Porter Blvd.

I had great seats for the mens’ game as well. Just being two rows off the floor. I wore my fake ESPN media black pullover and made several disparaging comments about Pat McAfee as several security people were giving me a discerning look as I came out of the elevator into the main tunnel from which the players from both teams enter the floor.

You wanna know in a nutshell what’s wrong with America beyond Donald Trump and his rabble…how about the fact ESPN paying Pat McAfee 85 million to do what he does ranks somewhere in my top five.

Nero is fiddling my friends. Nero is fiddling.

Anyway…the OU-Iowa St. game was a street brawl from wire to wire in what was an official sellout. The crowd was magnificent. Being that I was an inaugural member of Billy Tubbs Baseline Bunch back in the 80’s…I was extremely proud of the crowd.

This is what the guys need in the rugged Big 12 moving forward. They need that Sixth Man with them on every possession. The league is that tough. Maybe even tougher than the SEC is in football currently.

OU just made winning plays the last four minutes of the game. Different guys just made plays. Every one of them.

OU won 71-63 and is now back at No. 9 in the polls. But that means nothing in this league as it appears the only easy nights in the league might be when you’re playing either O State of UCF. But even those games will be tough. It’s a tough, tough league.

I hung around after the game near the floor and oberved Sam Godwin and family. What a great group which made me proud to be a Sooner hoops fan. All the kids on this team have great family support.

Let’s go, boys. Let’s see if we can steal one tonight in Fort Worth.

This is what I’d like to see Joe C have the Sooner Game Day crew start doing right after the anthem. It would be awesome. I almost sat down next to Joe C on Saturday, but I didn’t want to push it too far on the opening conference game of the season.

MJ

I’ll be back in the cockpit tonight here at the premier OKC Thunder underground blog in the world tonight as the surging Thunder visit the Hawks in Atlanta.

But first…I want to congratulate the woeful Detroit Pistons for breaking their historic/ pathetic 28 game losing streak the other night.

I watched every bit of this game on the NBA Network and it was emotionally moving to see these guys finally win another NBA regular season season.

Several Oklahoma ties to this historically bad Pistons’ team.

Cade Cunningham…the very same O State national player of the year who I covered on this blog with my astute and spot on takes in the Cade Cunningham Journal.

Monty Williams…the former OKC Thunder assistant and former Phoenix head coach who took the Suns to their magical NBA Finals appearance a couple of years ago. And, of course, Troy Weaver, the same Troy Weaver who learned the art of tanking shamelessly from Sam Presti to rebuild a roster depleted of winning NBA talent.

We all thought those days of tanking shamelessly were going to be behind the Pistons this year, yet here they stand at 3-30 or something near that on January 3rd.

Pray for the Pistons.

I’m amped to be back for the Thunder’s game tonight in Atlanta. I know Little Nick Gallo and sports brodcasing’s biggest homer Michael Cage are already visualizing the championship parade in downtown Oklahoma City…so maybe a mature, heady presence will help keep some of this in perspective.

Keep it up, Thunder.

I thought the Nashville Country Music Bash on New Year’s Eve was pretty good, but too much Lainey Wilson. This one below caught my eye as the best presentation and I’ve included it into my workout music list. Elle King did Tom Petty proud. Go girl.

MJ

Simply…live every day to the fullest.

Be kind. Be gentle. Be strong when needed. Be giving to others.

To remember this nine month journey and all the new and previous human connections I’ve made along the way.

To laugh at least once every day.

To cry once every day.

To learn something new every day.

To experience every little thing I previously took for granted.

To wake up every day and become a better person than I was the day before.

To take the time to notice every beautiful sunset which comes your way.

Hope you have a a wonderful 2024.

MJ